Honest John and Gideon
John Worthington Foulfellow "Honest John" and Gideon are two of the five antagonists of the Disney's movie of 1939 / 1940: Pinocchio. (alongside the Coachman)They are also the first antagonists that Pinocchio encounters and the only ones that he re-encounters in the film. They are a few swindlers of the second class who are always searching for some way to avoid doing some work, either through trickery or stealing. They think that life is easy to get through for the crafty and prefer not to work, instead living at the cost of the others, and try never to do anything that means work. Information Honest John Worthington Foulfellow J. Worthington Foulfellow, also known to acquaintances as "Honest John", is the leader of the duo. Always looking for opportunities to obtain money easily without having to work, he leads Pinocchio astray twice with promises that he can be famous and revered and never have to work. At first he convinces the wooden boy that he can become a famous actor and get lots of money and adoring fans, when in reality he was just selling him to the cruel puppeteer Stromboli for a profit. In the second instance, he was promised large amounts of money for rounding up children for the Coachman to take to the cursed Pleasure Island. While he's clever and smooth, Honest John is very uneducated - he can barely read or spell and does not understand how many things work. Also whilst he is a swindler and a crook he might not be entirely evil, as he reacts with horror at the mention of Pleasure Island. John wears an old top hat in a dark green as well as a patched dark green suit, which seems to have an off-white shirt under it as well as a dark cravat. He wears a blue coat or cloak over his suit jacket and no shoes. Gideon, the cat Gideon is a mute cat, and the companion of John. Unlike his partner he is quite unintelligent and bumbling, frequently getting in the way of John. However he does seem to have ambition and carries tools such as mallets. Also, he too is aware of the curse of Pleasure Island. Like John he wears an old top hat, but his is smaller, either because he is a smaller animal or to signify his underling status. He also wears patched purple trousers and what seems to be a yellow coat or cloak over his top half. He is also shoeless. 'Trivia' *Honest John was never called "J. Worthington Foulfellow" in the film, although he was referred to as "Foulfellow" in an episode of House of Mouse (in which he appeared with Gideon and Lampwick). *In the original Italian story of Pinocchio, the counterparts of Honest John and Gideon were an unnamed Fox and Cat who were con artists who set out to con Pinocchio out of five gold pieces given to him by Mangiafuoco (the Stromboli counterpart). The Fox was always pretending to be crippled, and the Cat (who seemed content to just repeat everything the obviously smarter Fox says) was always pretending to be blind. They were a lot more malicious than their Disney counterparts in that they actually try to murder the puppet at one point. They do cheat him of his gold pieces, but towards the end they turn up with the Fox lame (and minus his tail) and the Cat blind for real, and both are helpless and starving. *The Fox and the Cat were said to be inspired by a man named Gatto ("Cat" in Italian) who was a notorious con artist and chicken thief in the author's neighborhood. *Honest John and Gideon did appear in a number of Disney comics over the years; usually to try and lead Pinocchio astray. They also appeared in a Disney storybook retelling the Hans Christian Anderson tale of The Emperer's New Clothes, as the swindlers who fleece the vain, gullible Emperer (played by Prince John from Robin Hood. And they also were cast as the charity collectors in the original children's record version of MICKEY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL (a throwaway gag is that Gideon actually gets to speak), but in the later animated cartoon version of the record they were replaced by Rat and Mole from Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. Category:Classics Category:Animals Category:Pinocchio villains Category:Living characters Category:Men Category:Singing Villains Category:Males Category:1940's introduction Category:Masters of Evil Category:Well-Known Villains Category:Intellegent villains Category:Child Endangerment Category:Child Abusers Category:Kidnappers Category:Masterminds Category:Comical Villains Category:Children Category:Bullies Category:Jerks Category:Henchmen Category:Burglers Category:Nice Villains Category:Villains who aren't revealed to be evil at first Category:House of mouse cameos Category:Smart Idiots Category:Karma Houdini Category:Antagonists Category:Presumably defeated